We do so much online now. Unless we very much limit our internet activities, we make ourselves vulnerable to crooks so clever that they would have gotten rich if they were honest. But for whatever reason they aren’t honest, so we need to take precautions. If we don’t, given the portion of our lives that takes place online, we face catastrophes not far in effect from the house burning down.
Meta has launched another social network, “Threads.” I signed up but already knew when I did that I wouldn’t be an active user. I hope many others will join me in not using it. I also hope it succeeds for the good of the Internet.
Last week, I grumbled about Apple’s “vision” which is visionless at worst and horribly dystopian at best. What could have been different? I found myself imagining what WWDC23’s big announcement might have been if Steve Jobs were still living.
I watch Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) keynote every year like people watch the Superbowl — snacks, celebratory anticipation, the works. The greatest ones over the years remain memorable long after, conveying master showmanship and a clarity of vision for technology that makes life better. Ironically, while introducing a device called Vision Pro, this year’s conference felt like an aimless stumble towards dystopia.
I sometimes wonder how we get anything done at all. Usually, I wonder that while sitting on hold with customer service. I especially find myself wondering that when said customer service has to do with cellular service. I was wondering that today.
Twenty year ago this morning I was having coffee when I remembered that the space shuttle was landing, so I turned on the television to watch it. Everything seemed yawningly normal. But then I was interrupted mid-yawn — a very unpleasant sensation, though not as bad as a stifled sneeze — when the commander and pilot of the shuttle failed to respond to calls from the flight controller.
As part of Dennis E. Powell’s twentieth anniversary remembrance of the second shuttle disaster, we are republishing this third part of Dennis E. Powell’s late 80’s and early 90’s cover stories on NASA safety practices that he wrote for TROPIC, the magazine of The Miami Herald. In this piece Powell tells the story of former NASA engineer Bill McInnis who cared too much.
As part of Dennis E. Powell’s twentieth anniversary remembrance of the second shuttle disaster, we are republishing this crucial investigation into NASA’s space shuttle safety practices that he wrote for TROPIC, the magazine of The Miami Herald, on April 9, 1989.
As part of Dennis E. Powell’s twentieth anniversary remembrance of the second shuttle disaster, we are republishing his groundbreaking piece on the earlier Challenger disaster that was the cover story for TROPIC, the magazine of The Miami Herald, on November 13, 1988.